When 31 freshman legislators descend on the Capitol next term, their main mission will be tackling the state’s financial crisis, but before they can do that, they will have the monumental task of grasping the budget process, which can be a sensory overload of numbers, jargon, formulas, and political complexities.

Rather than face a potential challenge to her nominating petitions, Rep. Martha Garcia, a Phoenix Democrat, withdrew from her Senate race after finding discrepancies in her signatures. Her departure left Steve Gallardo, a former House member, as the lone candidate in District 13, almost certainly assuring him a seat in the 30-member chamber next year. But not everyone is happy about that.